Britain’s Labor Party Is Now the Party of Anti-Semitism

Since the hard-left parliamentarian Jeremy Corbyn became its leader in 2015, the UK’s Labor party has seen near-continuous anti-Semitic outbursts by its members and revelations of Corbyn’s own association with vicious Israel-haters, coupled with several ostensible attempts to set things right which proved to be shams. Most recently, the party has disciplined two MPs for complaining about anti-Semitism. Tamara Berens concludes that this is far more than a passing problem:

Many focus on the question of whether Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite himself. He may or may not be. However, his deliberate actions to reject the Jewish community’s concerns, silence his moderate Labor detractors, and pedal anti-Zionism as central to his political image show that he is more than happy to utilize anti-Semitism for political purposes.

Anti-Zionism—and by extension, giving credence to anti-Semites—is fundamental to the worldview Corbyn has cultivated on his journey to political stardom. For most of his political career, Corbyn was a fringe socialist politician and supporter of the USSR, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, the Iranian ayatollahs, and the Venezuela of Nicolas Maduro [and Hugo Chavez]. After becoming Labor leader, Jeremy Corbyn toned down some of this support for radical anti-Western groups. Nonetheless, he has consistently maintained his support for anti-Zionist causes. What’s undoubtable is that throughout his career, his ultimate goal has remained the same: rejecting Western values and embracing the alliance between radical socialists and Islamists in a strategic bid to normalize and implement socialism in the UK.

Politically, Corbyn’s strategy is working: according to a recent YouGov poll, 61 percent of the party believes Corbyn is handling accusations of anti-Semitism well. And 80 percent of the party deems him a good leader overall. The events of the past few weeks indicate that the Labor leadership has been able to build on their apparent success to . . . distance themselves from the overwhelmingly Zionist British-Jewish community. This perhaps became most apparent last Friday, when Jeremy Corbyn published another article in the Guardian disregarding his part in normalizing anti-Semitism in the party. The piece came out at 5:00pm, when the majority of Jews in the country were busy preparing for the Sabbath.

The reality is that support from the Jewish community is no longer an indispensable part of the Labor party. In fact, Corbyn’s foreign policy—a large aspect of his political differences with [Tony] Blair’s [moderate, pro-American wing of] Labor—rests on weakening UK-Israel relations. Corbyn has constructed a successful strategy for claiming the Labor party as his own socialist vehicle for disruption of the Western liberal order. Labeling recent events a “scandal” greatly underestimates the strategic nature of his leadership.

Read more at Weekly Standard

More about: Anti-Semitism, Jeremy Corbyn, Labor Party (UK), Politics & Current Affairs, United Kingdom

Hizballah Is Learning Israel’s Weak Spots

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.

Read more at Ynet

More about: Hizballah, Iron Dome, Israeli Security